Hello, and welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm your host, Corinne Powell, and I'm the owner of Change Radically.

In this space, we'll talk about all things inner wellness, and parenting will certainly come up too. Because I'm a mom to four kids, so parenting is a huge part of my life.

This space is designed for safety. Your inner child is welcome. Your past self is invited to listen as well. And no matter what type of day you're having, I want you to know I'm glad to be with you.

I live out of vulnerability and transparency, so come and be. Be yourself. Be messy. Invite a friend, and please stay a while.

Keep coming back. I want you around. Now, let's jump into today's episode.

I'm so glad to have Michelle back with me today. She's come on in the past to share about many things. And I'm thrilled to have her here today.

I want to introduce Michelle by sharing a little bit with you about her. Michelle is a tree-hugging, tea-loving, chemical engineer-turned-cyclical nutritionist, millennial

mom of three. After struggling with her own fertility issues and hormone imbalances for years, she's become an expert on simplifying cyclical living.

Michelle combines hormone and nutrition science with cyclical living. She uses her own cyclical energies to help women balance their hormones, lose weight, and reconnect with their bodies.

At the heart of everything she teaches, she believes that when you understand your body, you love your body. And when you love your body, it's effortless to take incredible care of yourself and others.

I know Michelle personally as a friend, and I've been a part of the programs that she's run. She is a wonderful teacher, and I'm excited for you to learn from her today.

Michelle Beckner: Thanks for having me, Corinne, and thanks for having me back. 

Corinne Powell: Even though I am a female, and I have lived within a cycle for years, until just recently, I didn't even understand it. And I feel like through your coaching, I've been able to understand what's going on within my body, what's going on for my daughter, and how that's impacting the day-to-day and the weeks. And I'm thinking about that. It's all about the balance of the month. So, I felt like it was extremely beneficial, and I am really looking forward to everybody just hearing what you share, because you explain it in a way that's clear, and just very eye-opening. So I'm looking forward to the conversation. 

Michelle Beckner: Cool. Well, thank you.

Yeah. And, kind of going off of what you said, I mean, there's so many benefits to cyclical living and we will go into like what exactly I'm talking about when I say that, but just to go off of what you said, I mean, if like, we can use it for a tool for our health, right. 

We could use it for you know, all different, like planning our workouts or planning our diet. Like we can use it for like all and planning out our work and how we interact with people that we have relationships with and all the things, but really at the foundation, the thing that I love about looking at life through this cyclical lens is it really helps you develop a deeper connection to yourself and it helps you develop a deeper connection to like the natural world around you. 

And there's so many amazing benefits about feeling more connected to nature and of course, more connected to yourself. So if you take anything away from this, it's just like that foundational piece of self-awareness. Like you can take it as far as you want and get as detailed as you want with all this stuff, but just, just starting at like the self-awareness piece and understanding that it's not just about you and just understanding that, you know, not every single day you're going to be feeling the same things or wanting to do the same things or wanting to interact in the same way. Just understanding that self-awareness piece is like the best foundation you can have for, you know, all the different places that you can take what we talk about. So yeah, you brought that up, yes.

So let's start with just talking about cyclical living. And this is just the way that I define it that I've, you know, I started just by learning about my own personal cycle, like over 10, my daughter actually just turned nine today is her birthday. And it took us a while to get pregnant with her. And so this all started with me just like, you know, deciding I wanted to have a baby and realizing like, I knew nothing about my body. Like I was so disconnected from my cycles. I was on birth control for such a long time. So it really started with me understanding my body and my menstrual cycle. But you know, it doesn't have to start there. It can start with these other pieces. 

So from there, I took it from exploring like seasonal living. I worked with this herbalist in England, who is amazing, and she taught seasonal living. And, then there's, you know, understanding the moon energies and the phases of the moon and the cycles of the moon. So I kind of took what I've studied and learned and incorporated into my practice as a health coach over years and years and kind of put it all together in this way of living that I call cyclical living. So it's kind of like a combination between, like I said, seasonal living, which is sort of the way that our ancestors, I shouldn't say sort of, it is the way our ancestors, like they just had to live, right? They had to live with the seasons, if they live someplace that had a change of seasons, they understood the moon, they understood when it was time to plant and harvest and gather and preserve and prepare for the winter. Like they were just, they had to live this way, because they were so intricately connected to the natural

world around them. And obviously, we've moved away from that with modern conveniences, which is, you know, great, like, I'm glad that I have like, indoor plumbing and like a structure, as nice, a safe house to live in and all the things, but, you know, it's gotten us more disconnected from nature. So that's a piece of it, like understanding a little bit more like connecting with the seasons as they change around you. 

And like, just, you know, looking up at the moon, like my husband, we all we kind of laugh about it. But if he ever wants to know if it's like a full moon, he's like, when's the next full moon, because I pay attention to that kind of thing, right? And a lot of people don't anymore. So that's a piece of it. And then another piece of it is a term that's kind of becoming more popular, cycle thinking.

So that's basically changing the way that you, you know, like I was saying, you changing your diet, or your exercise, or your social plans, or your work, or, you know, whatever it is, according to your menstrual cycle. So the term cycle thinking was kind of was coined by Alyssa Vitti, who is a health coach, she's written a few books and has a health coaching institute called flow living, I believe is what it's called. So cycle thinking is kind of becoming like more popular, which is great. So that's living more in sync with your own personality. So that's personal menstrual cycle, right. And then we have seasonal living and tracking the moon and just getting back in touch with, with those sort of things, energies that our ancestors were in touch with. 

So I take a little bit from each of those pieces. And I kind of put it together, like I said, in what I call cyclical living. So cyclical living is like basically taking there's three main energies that are affecting, at least women that are cycling, right. So our three main energies, I call it our goddess energy. So that's our menstrual cycle, if you're cycling, then you have the sun, which is the seasons, and then the moon and the moon phases. And the really, really cool thing about this, at least I think it's really cool. 

So we have these three separate cycles, they're all natural cycles, right. And then each of them has four phases. So I hope I'm not going too fast here. So you have your three cycles, the sun, the moon and your menstrual cycle, perhaps, right. And then each one of those has four phases. And the cool thing is the energies of each of those phases line up with each other. So you have the three phases, right. And the three phases line up with each other. It's so cool. So we have like winter, our winter energy is our menstrual cycle or the new moon. 

And then we can go, I guess I'll go through all of them. So we've got our menstrual cycle, the energy of that is like our inner winter, which if you're cycling, you probably get that like, that makes sense. And it's our inner winter, right. And that aligns with the darkness of the full moon. And I won't go into this too much. But yes, we'll talk about how these energies align. But it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you if you don't cycle with the moon or that you should be cycling with the moon that that can be like a whole nother conversation. 

But I'm just talking specifically about the energies. So it can feel a little overwhelming at first. So I always say just start by noticing, start by paying attention, like, where's the moon? Where am I in my cycle? What's going on with the season around me and start to just notice like that going back to that self awareness piece and how these energies play off of each other. It's not like, oh, it's a full moon, but I'm on my period and it's fall. So I should be feeling this way. It's that's kind of backwards, right? We don't say like, I should be feeling this way because of all these things. It's like, oh, this is where we're at. So maybe that makes sense why I'm feeling this way. So kind of looking at it differently, and not trying to be so rigid about it. It's really just understanding the energies and understanding yourself.

Corinne Powell:  Okay, so going back is an empowering piece. Because even yesterday, I was feeling really tired the day before. Yes, there's been a lot going on. But I'm not going to be feeling this way. I'm going to be I also realized, well, my period is about to start that's playing in. So it's the empowerment piece to as we're aware. 

Michelle Beckner: Yeah, exactly. And I'm glad you brought that up, too. Because a lot of people, you know, will also, it's looking at it in through the lens of empowerment, like you said, versus like as an excuse, or feeling bad about yourself or things like that, right? It's just understanding that this is the way the energies are. 

Corinne Powell: Mm hmm.

Michelle Beckner: So we're just I was just saying how winter is in alignment with your menstrual phase, which is the time when you're on your period and the new moon, right? So then we go to the energy of spring, which is in alignment with the first quarter moon, or I know when I first started, like trying to understand the moon, I was really confused about like, what all this means. So it's the let me make sure I say it right, the waxing moon. So when the moon is getting bigger, right? So spring energy aligns with the waxing moon, and your follicular phase, which is the phase of your cycle between when your period ends up until you ovulate. And then next, we have summer energy. So that would be in alignment with the full moon, or I should say, and your ovulation phase. 

And then lastly, we complete the cycle, I shouldn't say complete the cycle, because cycles just keep going. But the last phase is fall or autumn energy, which is in alignment with what's called your luteal phase, which is like the week or so before your period, and the waning moon. So when the wane, or when the moon is getting smaller. And just really quick, when it comes to the menstrual cycle, there's a few different ways to define the different phases of your menstrual cycle. So you might have heard it defined differently. Like the first half of your cycle is your follicular phase, the second half is your luteal phase, or there's different ways. 

But the way I like to look at it is the way with these four separate phases and the way that they align with the with the other energies. So luteal phase, like if you're trying to get pregnant, or if you were if you remember trying to get pregnant, they had like the two week wait, like between when you ovulate and when you can take a pregnancy test, and that's really your luteal phase. 

But when it comes to the energy of the four phases, your luteal phase, the way I'm talking about is really just like the week before your period, which is technically like your late luteal, which is when you start feeling like you were mentioning, like the little bit lower energy, and things like that. So those are the four different phases and kind of how they align. So as I talk, I'll go into like a little bit more about what each one of the phases mean, as I talk through them, you can think about it through whatever lens you want, whatever lens makes sense for you or for, you know, if you're living with someone who's cycling or things like that. So just keep that in mind, just look at it through whatever lens makes sense for you. And just always keep bringing it back to like that self awareness piece, just noticing like the energies within you and around you.

Corinne Powell: I'm interrupting the episode to let you know that I've recently paired the Change Radically workbooks with complimentary videos that expound on each topic. I teach from my heart and from my experiences. This is an easy way to go deeper on your own healing journey. And you can do it in a way and at a time that's convenient for you. For a limited time, all of these newly released products are on sale. Pick up any one package or grab all nine of them today.

Go to changeradically.com/shop, or check the link in the show notes. Now back to today's episode.

Michelle Beckner: So we'll start again with winter energy. So I think this is something that a lot of us can relate to, like that the inner winter or like winter is the time where we just kind of want to cozy up inside. We want to be with our intimate family, right? I always think of like, you know, get back like with our ancestors.

And maybe like, we're all just around the hearth fire telling stories, right? Because we don't have to be going out there like hunting and like doing all the activities like we're just together.

So that the energy of winter is more of like that rest and reflect energy and like storytelling and connecting, but like more on an intimate level. And then if you are cycling this phase, like when you're on your period, you're it's really neat, your brain, the left and right side of your brain is something. I think like 20%, at least, I want to say 50. Either way, that the two sides of your brain are more connected during this phase. So you're a lot more insightful, your intuition is a lot stronger, you might feel more connected to a higher power during this time. And a lot of that has to do with like your brain chemistry changes throughout your cycle. And then that also kind of aligns with you know, that like reflection piece of the inner winter.

Corinne Powell: That's so fascinating to me. I'm fascinated by the human body, by nature. 

Michelle Beckner: Ah, yeah, it's just neat how like, it all makes so much sense. And then like, we try to fight it all the time when really, we just need to understand it better. And again, use it as like a way of being more aware and just empowering us rather than trying to fight it. Right?

Corinne Powell: Right. Because what you're teaching us helps with even like practicing self care. Because if we know what's going on within our body, then we can create a life that aligns with it. It's just so all interwoven. And empowering. 

Michelle Beckner: And, yeah, yeah, exactly. And you can think about it, whether you're menstruating, like with self care, like you probably don't want to be planning a bunch of social outings during the week, you're on your period, right? Same thing with December, like, you know, we all have all these like commitments and holiday parties and all the things in December when like, we all get burned out from that. And of course, because, you know, we've got that winter energy where we just kind of want to not that we don't want to be social at all. But like, we want to be in more of like those intimate gatherings and not out. 

So, it's kind of like, you know, we have a lot of things that we like to do. But then we don't want to be out all over the place, right? So, one question to ask yourself during this winter time, whatever phase, you're kind of thinking of, it's where can I incorporate more rest into my day without guilt? So whether it like the season of winter, like where can I incorporate more wet rest into our lives into our schedule? 

Or if you're on your period, or if you're not cycling, you can follow the moon. Like, really, where can I just get more rest into my day is a really good place to start and focus on when it comes to cyclical living. And then next, we can move on to spring. And springtime, you know, think of, of course, like the gardening analogy is a really good example for this. So spring is the time like, okay, if you're if you have a garden, you're not going to just all of a sudden, like expect your crops to be like, growing and harvesting all kinds of things and growing really fast, right? You need to plan, right? You don't you have to figure out what kind of seeds do I want to plant? Where do I want to plant them? When do I need to plant them, right? 

So same thing with this spring energy, whether it's your follicular phase or actual spring, or if you're tracking the moon, it's a lot of planning, a lot of creativity and experimenting, organizing, spring cleaning, like that's one thing that we've taken from like our ancestral roots, that we still like a practice that we still kind of do today is you know, that organizing like we all have that like energy where we just want things to be like, you know, like, you know, be organized and put into place, right? Because it's that spring energy that we've got going on. 

Corinne Powell: Yeah. 

Michelle Beckner: So yeah, I think I mentioned experimenting, organizing, planning, preparing so that when we do hit the summer time, like we can grow, you know, we can grow like exponential lengths, or I don't know what I'm trying to say. But or we can, and we will make sure that the way that we are growing is in alignment with the way that we want to be growing, because we put that time in number one in winter, and then we put that time in in the fall, and then we put that time in in the winter to kind of like reflect and be and connect. 

And then we took that time in spring to plan and organize and, you know, get rid of things that we no longer need. So now when summer comes, we can like really hit the ground running and, and, you know, grow in alignment with what we want out of our life, right? So let me go back to spring real quick, because I gave in winter a question to reflect on how can I incorporate more rest in spring? 

You know, it's about experimenting, planning, and organizing. And I think that's a really good question. And I think that's a really good question. And I think that's a really good question. And I think that's a really good question. And I think that's a really good question. So some questions to ask yourself during the spring energy. 

What are some things I've been wanting to try? And what do I need to make them happen? So again, especially if you are cycling in your follicular phase, you might you're coming out of your period, like you, you've got like maybe a renewed sense of energy, and you want to do all the things. But before you just dive into like all these new ideas that you have, like take a minute and think, okay, what do I need in place? Before I do anything else? So I think it's really important to think before I put these plans into action, right? And what are what are some? What are some people that I can bring into my life? Or what are you know, what are some resources I need? What are what's some research I need to do? Before I can jump into like that summer energy, and like really hit the ground running. And then that's when you're able to grow the most because you've put these plans in place. Does that make sense? 

Okay, so summer, I think summer is the energy that a lot of us can relate to the most, because it's kind of the energy, that like our society sort of thinks we should be in all the time. So summer energy is not very hard for a lot of people to get into. It's kind of the energy that we're all like waiting for. It's like, okay, good. Finally, now I can do all the things and feel really productive, right?

But then that's what gets us burned out when we feel like we need to be doing all the time. So we can't really be doing all the time, unless we take that time to be and to rest and to plan, right? 

Corinne Powell: You're bringing up some really good points. Yeah. 

Michelle Beckner: Good. Yeah. 

Corinne Powell: And this is huge. And I think this is something I know, like, I know, I'm not alone in something that like has to be continually, I have to continually remind myself of and practice, right? Like there's rest can be just as productive as actually doing things. 

Michelle Beckner: And then also, I didn't even mention with spring, like also the transition, like you can't just go from like, you know, super inward, like resting, and like being all cozy and all those things. And then all of a sudden doing. We have to have that transition. And same thing from summer to fall, like we need to be able to transition ourselves, we need to be able to slow down from all the productivity and transition back into

that being mode. And every single one of these energies, or modes, or whatever you want to call it is super important. Trees lose their leaves, like that's, that's what the trees need to do so that they can be able to do their work. And so I think that's a really good point. I think it's bloom again, in the spring, right? So same for us, because we are nature, too. 

We're not, we're not above nature, we're part of it, we have to stop fighting it, right? Like we said before, summer, I think we all kind of get that summer is like, you know, yes, now is the time because we put in that rest, we put in those plans, and we organize. So now is the time where yes, we can take a lot of aligned action, we can start doing, we can socialize a lot more we can, when I say we can socialize a lot more, we can always do a lot more socialize, do whatever you want. It's just like, just being able to check in with yourself and realize like, oh, no wonder this feels really good. Or, oh, no wonder this doesn't feel really good. Right.

So now's a great time to collaborate with other people to just have those more outward connections. So we're taking action, we're doing things, we're reaching our goals and we're connecting with people. We're seeing how people can, can help us reach our goals and how we can help other people reach their goals. So this is the mother energy of, of your menstrual cycle.

So it's like, okay, this is where I'm going to actually fill myself up by serving others. Like this is when it's going to be feel really, really good to me when other phases of my cycle, it's going to feel really good to me to serve myself first or most, like, of course, as a mom, like you can't just be like, sorry, kids, like I'm going to ignore you now, but it's just understanding, like, you know, now I can take that extra, time and like really, really connect with my kids because that's, what's going to feel really good when other times my cycle, I'm going to have to find a little bit more of a balance. Sure.

And then I don't think I said my question for summer is how can I connect with and utilize my community and my support system more? So now's a really great time. Of course, always reach out for help if you need help, but now is a really great time. Like if you're someone who has a hard time asking for help or, or getting support or whatever, now's a really great time to be able to, you know, make those connections a little bit more easily. And then lastly, we move to fall, which is again, one of those transition seasons. So it's time, this is when it's time to start slowing down.

And I kind of love this phase. I mean, especially like in your menstrual cycle, luteal phase sort of gets a bad rap because it's like when you maybe are PMS thing a little, or you're maybe just like a little bit more tired or grumpy and have less patience. Like, yes, it's not the most fun phase, but I kind of love it because it's the idea of like, I always think of Thanksgiving, which is my absolute, favorite holiday. 

And this is when like, you know, everybody's working so hard in the fields because we did all these things all year round to grow, to grow all of our crops, right. Or, you know, look at it in whatever metaphor way that you want to. We worked so hard. We grew these things and now like it's head down, like, let's get the work done. Let's finish it up.

Like, let's finish up all this productivity, collect our harvest and then slow down and celebrate. Right. And then move back into that inner winter. And I think like, it just feels like such a good completion to the cycle to, yes, we can work hard. Like that's a part of life and that can feel really good, but it's time to slow down. And in that transition, let's celebrate.

That's something that gets forgotten and passed over so easily is celebrating like all the hard work we did. Cause a lot of times it's like, you know, in society, it's like work, work, work, get the job, do the thing, like complete the project. And then, okay, now what's the next thing? It's like, okay, that's awesome. I'm so like, that is being able to put in the work, and to accomplish something and like, and finish it is great, but like, let's take a minute, right. 

Let's take a minute to celebrate and then rest where we can reflect on either what we did over the past year. If you're looking at the seasons or the past month or whatever it is, celebrate. And then you move back into like your inner winter where you're kind of reflecting on like everything that you accomplished that was being and doing right. 

That was resting and being productive. And then just end it with a, the question for fall is how can I gather my quote unquote harvest and prepare for the winter ahead? Because now, you know, you're moving into the inner winter. So it's like, okay, let's, you know, head down, let's finish up the work. 

What are some things we can do to make, you know, this inner winter easier and more supportive on us so we can rest? Cause yeah, sometimes it's, it's hard to rest. Like there's always things to be done, but what can you do in this season of fall to set yourself up, to be able to feel a lot better about resting? And then what can you do to make sure that you're able to rest? And then what can you do to make sure that you're able to let go? What, what is no longer serving us, right? What can we let go?

What can we prune? You know, like we prune the garden at the end of the season and things like that. So what can we celebrate? What can we let go of? And how can I prepare for the winter ahead? Are some questions to ask yourself in that fall season? 

Corinne Powell: Yeah. 

Michelle Beckner: You know, you can take these as far as you want and as detailed as you want when it comes to, you know, into your diet and your exercise and your social life and your work and all the things. But you can take these as far as really, I don't want it to be overwhelming. It's just starting with this, you know, going back to this foundational piece of self-awareness and just noticing the energies around you. If this is really cool to you and you want to get started and learn more, a really, really great place to start is tracking your cycle. If you are cycling, otherwise you can track the moon. 

So I do have a free holistic cycle tracker. So I can, we can put the link for that in the show notes. And if anything, like again, however far you want to take this, if anything, it's just a really great foundational piece because it basically has you check in with yourself every morning and every evening. 

It's, I call it holistic because you're not just tracking your cycle. You know, you're not just tracking like when you're on your period and when you're not. And that's why this is beneficial to, to any, especially women. Cause if you're not cycling, you can use the moon. 

But where am I going with this? So you're tracking like your energy, you're tracking any physical symptoms, you're tracking emotions for the day right. And if anything, like, yes, you get some really great data to kind of see, like, if you are experiencing some symptoms or whatever, like you get some great data, but it's really just teaching you to listen to yourself and to notice like the changes in the patterns and things, you know, from day to day and week to week and month to month in your life.

So that is a really great place to start, whether you use the holistic cycle tracker or you develop some sort of way. I mean, there's other trackers out there, but some way to just kind of start paying attention to those things, I think is a great place.

Start with cyclical living. And then if you do, you know, want more support, especially, so I help women, especially who, you know, a lot of the women I work with are done having kids and they're just kind of want to like reconnect with their body and understand their body a little bit more whether they want to lose weight or they've got irregular periods that they want to deal with, or they just want to like feel good, like in themselves again, because having kids, like you kind of, your body's not yours for a really long time, which I know, you're probably still kind of in that, right? Like it's not your nursing. So it's not like just yours right. 

So just getting, you know, getting back in touch with your body and understanding your body. I have, you know, I work with women one-on-one or I run group programs from time to time. Some of them are more focused on weight loss. Some of them are more focused on troubleshooting specific period symptoms and things like that. So we can pop a link in the show notes for best place to start if they're interested in, in going to the one of those programs. 

Corinne Powell: Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. This has been good. I feel like the, even though you gave us a lot to digest, the thing that I walk away with is this idea that first off there's a design, our bodies are moving in a motion on repeat. And if we become aware and we learn more about ourselves, we create a lifestyle that really supports us and our bodies. 

And, and I feel like then as a family unit, we, we create a lifestyle that supports the family unit because we all know, like it's all of us living life together and how I'm doing today impacts how the rest of my family is. So if I start to support myself in the way my body needs, it benefits my family as well. So I'm taking from this, that really we can, learn a lot from, like you said, getting curious and noticing. And then if we, you know, actually invest in learning more, we can understand how to support ourselves better. 

Because when I've heard you teach, I'm like, actually there's times during the month that doing certain forms of exercise are going to be too much for your body. And you're going to have to like sit out, a couple of days, because you're going to feel like, Whoa, I just pushed. I just depleted myself.

It didn't have the resource to give that I asked it to give me. And I demanded it. And now I'm, I'm sitting out because I have to replenish. And so there's so much we can learn to support ourselves further, but I feel like you're giving us this, like you said, foundational piece that we can take from here.

Michelle Beckner: I mean, it's where it all starts. And I think that's why not to like hone in on weight loss. Cause I, you know, there's, there's a lot I could say about that. But for example, like for weight loss, like a diet program or exercise program, like, honestly, they are rarely ever going to stick unless you have that foundational piece of like being able to understand yourself and being able to, you know, listen to your body and like what feels right and what feels good because your body knows, right. Your body knows what's going to feel good. It's just, are you listening to it? 

Corinne Powell: Right.

Yeah. Yeah. But even that our body knows what's going to feel good. I think for some of us, we need to consider that do what's our underlying belief there, because that may actually not feel true. I feel like there's this idea that no, no, no, it doesn't, I can't trust it. Or I tried that and it proved ineffective, but there could have been more going on there.

So I love that you are saying our body does know, and we need to give it attention. I do believe that, but I think some, sometimes there's a journey to get to that place. I don't think I always believed that. 

Michelle Beckner: Yeah. Yeah. You are so right. 

Corinne Powell: I'm in this place right now where I trust it. Like I gained probably 60, something around 60 pounds when I was pregnant with my fourth.

I mean, I gained 65 pounds when I was pregnant my first two. So, you know, it wasn't the first time. Yeah. But first off, I trusted my body through the process because, you know, I'm conscious about what I'm eating, but I'm also going to eat as often as I need to give my body what it needs right? 

When, so, but I'm trying to fuel it in ways that are good for it. So I'm trying to support it during the pregnancy and not worry about what the scale says. But then afterwards, postpartum, I'm also like, you know what? It'll get back.

To where it once was, I need to just allow it to do what it needs. In my case, I was nursing. So I recognize I'm demanding, I'm asking a lot of my body. So I need to replenish it and give it what it needs, but it wasn't, I'm not one of those people who like two weeks after you've had your baby, you're back down to whatever your pre-pregnancy weight was, but I allowed it probably in more fullness than ever. I allowed my body.

To just journey as it needed, trusting it, loving it, actually liking it. Like I could look up here

and be like, Oh, I like what I see, which wasn't always the case, but it's been this journey to now being in this place where I'm like, really, my body has released almost all of that weight. 

It's actually released all the way I started off with, but I had a miscarriage before I got pregnant with her. So I gained 10 pounds. And so I haven't, my body hasn't let go of that yet. And it's not at all about the number on the scale. It's just, that's the barometer. Like I just know, right. My body feels good, but I'm sitting here like blown away because, and I'm like, wait a second, this is all just happening as it needs. Because before I even got pregnant with her, I started supporting it.

I got pregnant. I got my hormones in balance, things that weren't always the case for me. I have not had to stress about trying to get the weight to come off. I have not been doing an exercise program. I'm not dissing an exercise program at all. I'm just saying that this has not been a priority of mine. It's not been a focus. It's not, I've not been stressing about it,.

Michelle Beckner: Yeah. And as long as you're giving it what it needs, like, I always say effortless weight loss and people probably like totally roll their eyes at me for that, but it's really, you know, if your body, your body works perfectly. And like you said, it's a journey. Like I've struggled with infertility for a long, long time. And I would always just go back to like, what is wrong with me? What is wrong with my body? And like, always just like, that was always, and it's still something that comes up in my head a lot, but it's the same idea of, you know, there's nothing wrong with my body. 

This is my body telling me, Hey, you're not giving me what I need to work the way you know, to release, the weight, to hold on to a pregnancy, to have the energy that I need. Right. So once you're able to support your body, it's like, it's, it's always working the way it's meant to be working. And I think once we start thinking of it that way, then it's so much easier to kind of get to where we want to be. Cause it's so much easier to support a body that we love and that we trust. And yeah, it takes some, you know, it's going to take some time to get to that point. But having the self-awareness piece and understanding that's where it's got to start. 

Corinne Powell: Right. So, so true. Ah, that's what we need to do. We just need to take a deep breath and just like relax into it because otherwise we struggle and fight our own body, our own self. 

Michelle Beckner: Yep. And that's what I'm trying to help women move away from. Like we've, you know, unconsciously or consciously, like we've been taught to fight against our bodies, like our whole lives almost. Right. Um, that doesn't need to be the case. We don't need to be fighting our body to get it to, to look the way we want it to look or feel the way we want it to feel. We just need to accept it and work with it and give it what it needs. 

Corinne Powell: Yeah. Yes. Giving it what it needs. I know you said that already, but it, it really is like, I, I feel like I've had to, I don't know how to say it. I see the picture, but like remind my mind that no, I'm going to eat this food right now because my body needs it because there's this. Cultural message sent that like, no, we need to limit ourselves or we, if we have this goal, then the means to this goal is only this one path when no, that's not the case. And supporting our body may mean we have to go against another subconscious belief or a precondition, like a message, a message. 

We've been conditioned to believe a society, a societal norm. Like there's so much that we have to be willing to do. I think that's what it is. I had to choose. No, I will take care of my body more than anything else. And that meant like, even just last night, it's odd at this point to need to eat during the night, but I woke up and I know my body, right? Sometimes a stomach ache does not mean you need to eat, but I felt the stomach ache. 

And I said, Oh, like, I know that means like, I need some protein. Like I need some food here. So my go-to is a spoonful of delicious organic peanut butter. Like it's just nuts and, you know, maybe some salt, but middle of the night, I took that spoonful of peanut butter. Cause it was like, this is what my body needs. 

And sure enough, that belly ache subsided. Like that was just what it needed. And it's not all the time, like it was in pregnancy or early postpartum. But it's just the support instead of, Oh my goodness, what are the calories? What are the fats? What is this going to mean? If I'm trying to do intermittent fasting, I broke the fast, all these things that could play in, like, how do we love and take care of ourselves? 

Michelle Beckner: Right. Yeah.

Corinne Powell: All right. Well, thank you very much, Michelle, for your time and your knowledge that you shared with us. 

Michelle Beckner: Yeah. Well, thanks for having me on. And I feel like this, it's an important conversation. So I'm glad we're able to have it together. 

Corinne Powell: Have you been intrigued by what you're hearing today? I have further content that you can listen to that will touch on some of what we've talked about within this episode. From season five, episode 12, Coffee With Corinne. From season 4, episode 1, Life update . And from season 3, episode 3, Normalizing Emotions.

All of those episodes are also linked in the show notes. Here we are. We've come to the end of another episode. Sit back and reflect on what you heard. What's the one thing that resonates with you that you can take away and do something with?

Let's not just listen. Let's listen and take action. Now, action may look very different for us, but it's doing something with what we hear.

I hope that you'll share today's episode with a friend that you think would also enjoy it. And please come back next week. I hope that you have a fabulous week and that you remember when you pillow your head at night, when you're going through your days, that who you are is good. 

And I'm glad that you're alive.